09 

L8 
y 1 




ii I ** 



EGYPTIAN VISITS 
TO AMERICA 




SOME CURIOUS EVIDENCE 

DISCOVERED BY 

O. LUYTIES 



PnnUiJ in A i u.' York ('Hy, .luiiiiciry, 1^22 

COPYRIGHT 1922 

O. liTJYTIES, NEW YORK 

PUBLISHED MARCH 1922 

AliL BIGHTS RESERVED 






<7 

0)OIA659580 



\AAS22 



«^ •' '^ ,^ 




Mayan Monolith at Quirigua. iPhoto by Maudslay) 



Egyptian Visits to cylmerica 



Egyptian Visits to America 



IS I have recently made a remarkable discovery of gen- 
eral interest I take pleasure in making a preliminary 
^{(g^ announcement. 

Egypt and Yucatan were in close communication long be- 
fore our era. From several indications it appears that the 
Egyptians visited America about 3000 B. C, and also that they 
established a colony. 

In this brief article the evidence is brought out in the 
following order: 

1. The Egyptians knew of the existence of the American 
continent. 

2. They possessed vessels able to cross the Atlantic. 

3. The legends of the Maya Indians assert that their 
culture came to them across the ocean from the east. 

4. The ruins in Yucatan resemble the early Egyptian 
architecture. 

5. A large statue discovered in Mexico in 1839 is ap- 
parently of Egyptian design. 

6. The ancient Mayas greatly resembled the Egyptians 
in both physique and character. 

7. The language of the modern Maya Indians contains 
several hundred recognizable Egyptian words. 

8. The hieroglyphic alphabet of the ancient Mayas, as 
crudely recorded by Diego de Landa in 1565, contains at least 
twelve letters expressing the same sound for the same thought 
as the Egyptian. 

9. A more careful study of both alphabets shows the 
certain identity of several letters. 

10. It is even possible to read a few words of the hither- 
to undecipherable Mayan hieroglyphics by spelling them out 
directly in Egyptian. 



Egyptian Visits to cAmerica 



The philosopher Plato in his story of the lost Atlantis 
mentions the fact that an Egyptian priest told Solon of the 
existence of America: 

"In those days the Atlantic was navigable . . . for this sea 
which is within the straits of Heracles is only a harbor, hav- 
ing a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the 
surrounding land may be most truly called a continent." 

The Egyptians had many vessels of considerable size, 
though not particularly seaworthy. Senefru, a near predeces- 
sor of the Cheops who built the Great Pyramid, is said to have 
had a vessel of great length on the Nile over two thousand 
years before the time of the Greeks. 

Many of the Egyptian ships of 3000 B. C. were larger 
and of better lines than the tiny caravels of Columbus. The 
Pinta was a boat of only 50 tons, and the Nina 40 tons and 
they carried only 18 men apiece. 

The Egyptian vessels were not only longer but were often 
equipped with special oars as well as sails. They could be 
helped along by the occasional rowing of 30 to 40 men ; on war- 
vessels even 50 to 60 men. 

There is a steady trade wind that blows from the Canary 
Islands to the West Indies from July to September, and a 
steady current in the same direction besides. 

This part of the Atlantic Ocean is less stormy than the 
Mediterranean Sea. Columbus made the trip in five weeks, 
and the Egyptians, if they tried, were undoubtedly able to 
make it in less. 

The Egyptians frequently sailed along the coast of the 
Mediterranean and occasionally visited countries now un- 
known, although their ancient names, such as Maha-au, Mahi, 
and others, are mentioned on the monuments. They were rel- 
atively more of a sea-faring people during the Old Empire 
than later, when their centre of population had moved further 
inland. 



Egyptian Visits to c>4merica 11 



When the Spaniards first settled in Mexico, the Maya In- 
dians of Yucatan told them that, according to their ancient 
traditions, their own ancestors had come across the ocean 
from the East and the West very long ago. 

According to their legends, Itzamna or Zamna, their 
Rain-God, and founder of their civilization, usually rep- 
resented as a feathered serpent, was a child of a divinity 
named Hunabku, and had come to them from across the sea. 
But neither the Indians nor the Spaniards realized at the 
time that the long-vanished race in Egypt had also origin- 
ally worshipped a rain-god represented as a plumed serpent, 
and called the child of Ha-nebu, which is merely an extremely 
old name for the Mediterranean Sea. 

THE RUINS IN YUCATAN 

The Spaniards were greatly irhpressed with the wonder- 
ful cities and striking monuments in Mexico and all their his- 
torians repeatedly mention the fine buildings and remarkable 
temples. 

Unfortunately, the Indian civilization was retrograding 
at the time. Several large cities were in ruins and those con- 
taining the finest buildings had evidently been crumbling for 
several hundred years at the time of the Spanish Conquest. 

The type of architecture somewhat resembled the an- 
cient Egyptian. The important buildings were usually con- 
structed of cut stone, or of rubble masonry faced with stone, 
and were generally rectangular in outline and massive in 
effect. 

There were hundreds of monoliths with complicated 
hieroglyphs not yet deciphered, some of them over twenty- 
five feet high, and corresponding approximately to the Egyp- 
tian obelisks, though not as high as the largest. 

There were also many pyramids, some of them very large, 
though naturally less expensive in construction than the 
Egyptian, usually built of earth and rock with a facing of 



)2 Egyptian Visits to c^lmerica 



cut stone. A few, however, were built of solid brick, and a 
few in step-form, as were the early Egyptian. 

Mayan temples and altars were frequently erected on the 
tops of truncated pyramids. 

The buildings were often elaborately and beautifully 
decorated, the style sometimes resembling the Egyptian, 
sometimes showing what may be an Asiatic influence, and in 
the more recent ruins tending to the bizarre and grotesque. 

THE STATUE FOUND AT PALENQUE 

A few of the statues and paintings are Egyptian in type. 
The large statue discovered by Mr. John L. Stephens at 
Palenque, Yucatan, in 1839 is quite in the Egyptian style. It 
is undoubtedly very old yet may be a copy of a still older 
original. 

I recognize the device in the figure's right hand as the 
conventional Egyptian representation of a draught-board, 
called men, the special personal mark of King Mene. who 
founded the Empire of Egypt, by joining the Upper and Lower 
Kingdoms, about 3500 B. C, or possibly earlier. He was called 
Aha or Ahu by the Egyptian people, and Ahau is even now 
the Mayan Indian word for king. 

In the king's left hand is a staff of authority such as was 
frequently used in Egypt instead of a sceptre. The head- 
dress, although extreme in size, is Egyptian in type. It rep- 
resents the khas, or crown of foreign lands, often associated 
with King Mene. He is portrayed as stocky and broad- 
shouldered with the short straight nose, firm jaw and broad 
forehead known by Egyptologists to have been characteristic 
of the early rulers of Egypt. 

Below the figure is a frame or cartouche such as was 
ordinarily employed in Egypt to surround the king's name. 
On the left is a sign which may either be read as the Mayan 
numeral eight or as the Egyptian sign for land, set up 
vertically. 




Statue Found at PALKNyuE 



Egyptian Visits to cAmerica 15 

Below the cartouche are two cups, a common ornament 
in Mayan carving, but also an Egyptian sign for bowls of 
incense, in other words reverence toward the king. 

Considered as a whole the design of this statue certainly 
seems to be of Egyptian origin. 

RESEMBLANCE OF MAYANS AND EGYPTIANS 

Physically the early Mayans greatly resembled the an- 
cient Egyptians, particularly of the middle and lower classes. 
Both races were a little under average modern height, broad- 
shouldered, narrow-hipped, fairly muscular and of a distinctly 
reddish brown color, slightly more red than the average North 
American Indian. 

They ordinarily had rather long somewhat curved noses, 
slightly receding chins, and a sloping forehead. Their heads 
usually protruded just a httle in back generally above the 
centre, and they had long black sometimes wavy hair, which 
the women wore in elaborate low coiffures. 

Both races had the same characteristic accent, giving 
D and T about the same sound, and pronouncing R entirely 
without rolling it, so that they used the same letter indiscrim- 
inately for either L or R. 

They were generally healthy and thrived in a warm 
climate, wore scant clothing, were fond of bathing, liked to 
color their bodies to increase the naturally reddish tint, and 
were fond of perfume. 

Both races were normally industrious and not war-like, 
and both had a talent for intensive agriculture, fine architect- 
ure and the conservation of water. They were very religious 
and remarkably superstitious, and by nature obedient to their 
priests and rulers. 

They were greatly interested in astronomy, in which their 
sages could make surprisingly accurate computations, and 
both races originally used a year of 360 days, with five addi- 
tional treated as an extra. 



16 Egyptian Visits to cy4m erica 



The civilization of the Mayans at their best was about 
equal to that of the earlier Egyptians. Their colony was pre- 
sumably founded at an early date in Egyptian history, at a 
time when the Egyptians, however, were most active, and are 
known to have sought outside of their own country for cop- 
per, which they used for tools. 

From the internal evidence at present available, such as 
the type of religion, hieroglyphs and architecture, the colony 
seems to have been founded during the so-called Old Empire 
and before the time of Khufu or Cheops. 

All computations in the Mayan calendar are figured from 
a traditional date corresponding nearly to our 3400 B. C. 
This also falls within the Old Empire, and may be the ap- 
proximate date of some important event such as the reign 
of King Mene or the original discovery of America. 

After about five hundred years of great prosperity, Egyp- 
tian civilization experienced a severe setback lasting several 
centuries, and communication with the colony in Yucatan, 
naturally always somewhat difficult and irregular, must have 
been abandoned. Several thousand years later there remained 
only vague and conflicting traditions in both Europe and 
America. 

RESEMBLANCE IN RELIGION 

The Mayans as well as the Egyptians believed in a future 
life and in a place of punishment for the wicked. They both 
believed that various objects buried with the dead would be 
of use to them in the future life. 

They believed that food offered at shrines of the dead 
would reach the spirits. They used to make images of the 
deceased and carefully preserve them. 

Both the Mayans and Egyptians had a vague conception 
of a great God superior to the other gods. This great God 
was believed to have created four brothers, immense giants, 
who each held up a quarter of the sky. 



Egyptian Visits to c^merica 19 

The Mayans called these gods Bacab, which is the Egyp- 
tian for spirits of the sky, literally "Gods of the Bowl." The 
individual names of these four gods as recorded by the 
Egyptians about 3000 B. C, were apparently not distinctly 
preserved by the Mayans through all the centuries until 1565 
A. D., when Landa noted them, except one, the god of the 
North, whose special color in Mayan was white and who was 
called Ix, pronounced Ish, and Zac, meaning white. The Egyp- 
tian for white is ubash and sesh, from which Ish may be de- 
rived, and the Egyptian for snow is sarqu, which agrees very 
well with the Mayan Zac. 

The belief in the four Bacab who hold the sky impresses 
me as too peculiar and too characteristic to be independently 
developed on separate continents merely by coincidence. 
Furthermore, the Egyptians themselves held other somewhat 
different beliefs concerning the sky at earlier and at later 
periods during their long history, so that this fact helps to 
determine the probable time of the establishment of the Mayan 
colony as during the Old Empire. 

MAYAN SCHOLARS KNEW THE WORLD IS ROUND 

The sign of the month Pop, dedicated to the calendar, and 
beginning the Mayan year, as it was recorded by Landa, is 
a crudely drawn sphere with three smaller circles to one side. 
The sphere is marked with the Mayan criss-cross sign for 
earth. Two of the smaller circles are each marked with a 
star, and the third with a tiny circle within the outer circle, 
the Egyptian signs for stars and sun. 

In the Mayan inscriptions on their monuments the month 
Pop is usually more simply indicated by a shutter with 
crossed bars. This is the Egyptian hieroglyph for the letter 
P, and also for the sky. v- . 




20 



Egyptian Visits to o^merica 



A FEW SAMPLES OF THE SIMILARITY IN LANGUAGE 



Mayan Indian 

Ahmiatz, priest 
Ahbobat, priest 
Ahez, sorcerer 
Ahau, king 
Ahuah, planter 
Ahcaual, enemy 
Ahtepal, estimable 
Akkab, night 
Almehen, noble 
Atan, wife 
Atantah, marry 
Aal, to speak 
Acam, to tire 
Ahkulel, magistrate 
Ahuih, hunger 
Almathan, command 
Am, held 
Baac, infant 
Bak, flesh, body 
Be, beel, path 
Beel-haa, stream, canal 
Bo, blown-up, round 
Buleb, flower pot 
Cab, honey 
Cabal, low 
Cay, fish 
Caluac, staff 
Cam, serpent 
Canal, high 
Chem, boat 
Ek, black 
Ek, star 
Ep, stairs 
Ha, water 
Hai, rain 
Peet, curve 
Tek, thou 
Kab, arm, hand 
Bac-haa, heron 
Tula, Mexican city 
Hunabku, Mayan god 
Maya , the Mayas 



Ancient Egyptian 

Amias, amiasta, priest 

Abt, shrine. Abut, offering 

A-hekai, a scorcerer 

Aha, Ahu, King Mene of Egypt 

Auaa, farmers ; aha, farm 

Akuiu, enemies, akhem, to strike 

Atep, master 

Akka, night 

Mehenk, receiver of offerings 

At an, literally: woman-near 

At an tah, "woman-near hand-give" 

Ali-t. ari-t, human beings 

Aq, to tire 

Arqu, sage ; arquit, decree 

Aau, food 

Metha, command 

Am, grasp 

Bakh, to give birth 

Bekh-t, what is born, flesh 

Ba, baa, path 

Baa hua, "path-of-water" 

Bah, to inhale; barbar-t, rounded 

Bu lepit, place for flowers 

Qebi, honey 

Kab al, near sole of foot 

Quaa, fish 

Kalkal, karkar. staff 

Cam'raa, tooth, fang 

Ka, high 

Kher, boat; Khemt, part of boat^ , 

Nekt, very black 

Ekhekh, akhakh, star 

Ep, ap, stairs 

Hua, water 

Haiu, rain 

Pe-t, sky 

Thek, thou 

Keb, arm; kap, hand "^ 

Bak-hua, "water-hawk" 

Tulah, quarry-town in Egypt 

Ha-nebu, the Mediterranean Sea 

Maaiu, advance guard, pioneers 






vi^ : 
■& * 



AGREEMENT OF ALPHABETS 



MAYAN 



EGYPT/AN 



SOUND 

A 



UY 
K 
L 
M 
N 



P 



BIRD 




PROBABLE 
NAME 

A 




^ WAVE 



= T 



0/A,U) 0,-^.,<J3> SUN; eye O0<S> 



n® 



SKY 



D^ 



NU 
AR;0 

PE-T 



Egyptian Visits to cAmerica 23 

THE ALPHABETS 

There are many cross-references possible between the 
alphabets. In Mayan for example Tzek, the fifth month, 
which is usually spelled by means of a snake's head with a 
bowl beneath, is occasionally indicated by means of a snake's 
head with five fingers just showing below. This is easily ex- 
plained by the fact that one of the Egyptian signs for K is the 
palm of the hand. Sure enough, we find K often indicated in 
Mayan by a hand, even though Landa's alphabet does not 
give it. 

Conversely, the Mayan alphabet helps to understand the 
Egyptian. For some time I have suspected that the two small 
sloping marks used for I in Egyptian represent rain or dew. 
This would make the name of the letter: iat-t, and would 
explain the origin of the Greek name, iota, and the Phoenician 
and Hebrew yod. Sure enough, the Mayan sign for I is an 
arc representing the sky with two drops coming down, and on 
further examination it appears that the Mayans occasionally 
also used the Egyptian form of I, the two small sloping marks. 

The Mayans deliberately made reading difficult so as to 
keep knowledge secret. 

Archaeologists, by means of the day and month signs 
recorded by Landa in 1565, have ingeniously deciphered the 
dates of the inscriptions and the system of the calendar, but 
nothing more. No one has succeeded so far in reading any 
part of the texts. 

I take particular pleasure, therefore, in providing the 
basis of a key to Mayan hieroglyphs by showing that phonetic 
letters are hidden in the inscriptions. 

The specimens quoted are some of the day and month 
signs and the letters a few of those mentioned by Landa, with 
additional forms of T, I, K, M, N, O and P. 

These seven Mayan letter-signs, among others, I dis- 
covered by their great resemblance to the Egyptian. 



'24 Egyptian Visits to ^America 

CONCLUSION 

As it is based upon definite and verifiable evidence, my 
discovery of close communication between Egypt and Yucatan 
will presumably be generally accepted. My suggestion, how- 
ever, that the Egyptians crossed the Atlantic about 3000 B. C. 
and established a colony in America, is of course only a 
reasonable hypothesis, and many others may be urged as 
more tenable. 

1. Egyptian and Mayan civilization may have originated 
in Asia some time before 5000 B. C, two tribes separating, 
one migrating to Egypt and the other making the long journey 
overland through Siberia and North America to Yucatan. 

2. Some intermediate nation may have brought Egyp- 
tian civilization to America, but probably not the Phoenicians, 
as they would presumably have introduced their own language 
and simple alphabet of about twenty letters instead of the 
Egyptian language and complicated hieroglyphics. 

3. European civilization may possibly have originated 
in America as suggested by Brasseur de Bourbourg, and urged 
by Le Plongeon, though he was quite unable to prove this 
theory. 

4. All ancient culture may have spread from a large 
island in the Atlantic, subsequently submerged by the Deluge, 
and referred to as the "Lost Atlantis," as contended by 
Ignatius Donnelly and others. 

However, if the fact of communication between Egypt 
and Yucatan is accepted, a direct crossing of the Atlantic by 
the Egyptians appears at present to be the most probable ex- 
planation. 



MAYAN HIEROGLYPHS w/th KEY 



KAN 




AorO 

k; egyptian 

N; 



/\A/\Ay 







M,p/NS g~T]3 ^'^^'^^' ^^^^'^- ^^^S^ 




t^;^^-^^-^ K.BO^"- ^:^5}^^-M, PINS; EGYPT. ^ 

TS, FANGS ^^^^ K— ^^^ TS, FANGS 




MAK 






fangS^Ts 

ZOTZ -0- 

FANGS, TS 



MANIK 






- TSOTS - 


K.BOWL 
N,WAVE 
M,P'N5 


K 

M 




M-N-K 



YAXKIN 



nC^l YdOTS C^^fe Y; EGYPTIAN^ 




K, BOWL 
(\J,WAVE 



Si 



•LJ 

fsj • " aaaa 



K 



KATUN 

20 YEARS 



K BOWL. 

A, (distorted). 

^OM T; EGYPTIAN ^^3^ 

U;0«0 



MAYAN HIEROGLYPHS WITH KEY 



TZAMNA A 



MAYAN 
RAIN-GOD 



IMIX 

'imish'.' 




IK.MNA 



SH 

I, I; 
M 

IMISH 




MNA 



KAMMNA 




M, PINS. 
SH, SIEVE, 
EGYPTIAN d 



emesh(?) imish 



C\^\CCH/\N 



MEN 



MOL 



CHUEN 





m 




SH^SIEVE; EGYPTIAN 
K, BOWL; EGYPTIAN 
CHAM,JAW; E GY PT^ KAMRAA 

SH.K CHAM^^ 
"CH ICC ham" 



M, PINS 
N^WA\/E 




MOL 




SH-kam/shik-an" 

{in MAYAN KAM =KAn) 




MEM 



rsSo' 



M, PI N, 

OorA, 

L, TO HUNT. 

EGYPTIAN „.^ 
ALAND AR,= oP° 



CH, TEETH A ^ A CH, TEETH 

UorO, I UorO, 

[SJ^WAVE I (o^ / M, WATER- JAR; 



E&YPTIAM Q 



EGYPTIAN P^ 



nn 




POP 



First Edition 
Frivately printed b^ Noonan & Shelly 
in Neu' York City, Januarv, 1922. 

Mr. Luyties may he communicated 
u'itK hy writing to Room 1009, 20 Broad 
Street, Neu' York City. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

■iii 

002 036 7S)0 8 I 



\ 



